IIRC, most turkey fryers have at least about 50 or 60K, and I definitely would not go any lower than that; if you live in a colder climate, I'd think you'd need at least 75K. And while you might not be giving serious thought to boiling a larger pot, like a converted keg for 10 gallon batches, once you do 5 gallons for awhile, you will most likely start thinking of that ... in which case you would probably want at least 100K. Keep in mind that even if a burner has a lot of capacity, it isn't necessary to use all of that capacity during a boil; you can turn the burner down. If it were me buying a burner, I'd spend a few extra bucks to try to get one rated at about 100K or maybe even 120K. Spending extra for anything beyond that seems unnecessary.

A turkey cooker would be an upgrade for sure. My cook top only has a max of 15,000btu. Doing some homework I found a 160,000btu high presure burner and matched it up with a 0-20 lb variable rate regulator and a 10' hose.
Your thoughts?

dasein668 wrote:I just received a Bijou Classic SQ-14 low pressure 150K btu cooker ... It used to take me 40 minutes to bring 6.5 gallons to a boil. Today: 15 minutes!

I've never been all that concerned about how long it takes to come to a boil; I usually have something else to do while it's heating, and it's just a matter of checking on it periodically. But I guess speed is nice if it's not costing you too much in fuel efficiency; I don't even turn my little 60K up to max because whenever I do I see too much flame extending out from under the pot -- which I think is just a waste of propane because the heat from that part of the flame isn't going into the pot. But the center of the burner is obviously hotter, which is where you get the faster heating. Any idea how fast that baby is sucking up the propane? Now you know, don't you, that in order to justify that big burner, it is MANDATORY for you to get a larger kettle; tell your 'boss' that I said so.

billvelek wrote:But I guess speed is nice if it's not costing you too much in fuel efficiency; I don't even turn my little 60K up to max because whenever I do I see too much flame extending out from under the pot -- which I think is just a waste of propane because the heat from that part of the flame isn't going into the pot.

Yeah, fuel use is a lot more important to me than a little extra time to boil. I still never seem to be spending much time standing around waiting for the boil as I have plenty of other things to do, as Bill says. I have one of those chepo "blow-torch" style burners and it doesn't seem terribly efficient, but I get around 5 5-gallon batches per 20# propane tank, which seems decent... maybe $2.50/batch.

If anything, I'd consider a better burner for less noise. The roar drives me a little crazy, so I tend to keep it turned a little lower to just below the point where it really starts to howl. It doesn't hurt once the boil gets going, but it must cost me a little time getting to boil.

dasein668 wrote:I just received a Bijou Classic SQ-14 low pressure 150K btu cooker ... It used to take me 40 minutes to bring 6.5 gallons to a boil. Today: 15 minutes!

I've never been all that concerned about how long it takes to come to a boil; I usually have something else to do while it's heating, and it's just a matter of checking on it periodically. But I guess speed is nice if it's not costing you too much in fuel efficiency; I don't even turn my little 60K up to max because whenever I do I see too much flame extending out from under the pot -- which I think is just a waste of propane because the heat from that part of the flame isn't going into the pot. But the center of the burner is obviously hotter, which is where you get the faster heating. Any idea how fast that baby is sucking up the propane? Now you know, don't you, that in order to justify that big burner, it is MANDATORY for you to get a larger kettle; tell your 'boss' that I said so.

Cheers.

Bill Velek

I've got a 16gallon kettle so that I can brew 10 gallon batches of house ales, 5 gallon for specialty/new recipes.

For me the time to reach a boil is of some concern since I'd like to be able to brew on a weekday: I get up in the morning and heat my strike water and start the mash. Then I take my son to kindergarten. While he's at school for 3 hours I need to runoff, boil, cool and pitch before going to pick him up. That just wasn't possible when I had the old burner and when I still did fly sparging. Yesterday with my new batch sparging setup and the new burner it would have been a piece of cake.

Yesterday was the first time I'd tried the new burner so I don't have a great handle on it yet, but based on the frost line on my tank it looks like I actually used less fuel than I was with my turkey fryer: maybe an inch or two vs 3 or 4 with the old burner. The new burner has a better regulator, burns much more cleanly, and appears to be substantially more efficient. I think those jet-style burners are really inefficient.

I crank it up to get to a boil, then lower it to just enough to keep a rolling boil. With my 17inch diameter kettle I can assure you that no flame is wrapping around the bottom!

Yep, 17" diameter is much better than my 12" diameter turkey fryer which easily allows inefficiency. I've been wanting to do a keg conversion, but then along with that I feel that I'll need to build _some_ sort of a setup -- at least a tiered system if not RIMS or HERMS. I just can't see how 10 gallons at a time can be moved around ... at least by me. I've always dreamed of a nice setup, but don't know where I'd put it.

That one has the eastman revoltion burner 65k output but its very fuel efficient, use the same one to get my strike water ready while my keggle is on another customized fryer (changed the stand to fit my keggle).

Santa, or my wife who also wants me out of the kitchen, just brought me the small propane jet burner. I figure for $40 why not go to 165K. Now I have to build a stand around it. Anybody have plans on that??